Farm Land

-1849 Added to the village of Ann Arbor by Solomon Mann a German tax collector.

Seventh St. used to be called Mann St.

-Elijah Morgan listed as 2nd owner. (At one time he and his wife Lucy Stowe owned one quarter of Ann Arbor!) He leased the land for farming.

-1862 Elijah sold the property back to Solomon & Frances Mann who continued to farm the land.

-1871 The Mann's sell to farmer William Whedon. Mr. Whedon also helped organize the Oak Grove Cemetery in  Chelsea (boasting 110 plots in only 20 years).

-1872 Whedon sells the lot to Irishman W. H. Mallory and the rest of the farm to W.P. Groves.

A Home is Born
 

-1872 Mr. Mallory and relatives including carpenter Henry Mallory constructed the Victorian. A piece of woodwork signed by one of the Mallory's and dated 1873 was found during it's 1974 restoration.

-1875 Fredric Mann Schmid & Christian Mack (Mack & Schmid Dry Goods) bought the house as an investment property.

-1881 Mack & Schmid sold the house to W.P. Groves who used it as his farmhouse and reconnected the land separated by Whedon.

-1889 Reverend Benjamin Cocker purchased the house where he lived with his wife and 3 children. He was pastor in Adrian, in Ann Arbor at 120 S. State, and became professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy.

-1890's Cocker's sons rent the house out to various people.

-1907 Reverend Cocker sells to organ maker John Clark. From Mr. Clark the house passed through many fingers without much care.

-1930 It was abandoned with the doors swinging open.

-1939 When the war came housing was in demand again and it was converted into apartments, but these gradually decayed.

-1974 The owner offered to sell the home to the city so it could be bulldozed in order to straighten out the intersection of 7th and Huron. Fortunately the city had no money. So John Hollowell, realizing the house's potential, bought it and began the chore of restoration.

Restoration & Reward

- John Hollowell purchased the building and began renovations with help from brother Tom Hollowell, John Hosford, and staff from his landscaping company John Hollowell & Associates.

-The first steps to restoring the house were to tear off the mint green fake wood shingles and unveil the clapboard and trim, rebuild both porches, and crush old packing crates (once used for large storage) to create parking space.

-The debris, old sidewalks, retaining walls, and a flag pole were buried to form the mounds in front. John installed two 1890's street lamps from Belle Isle each weighing a half a ton!

-Reward came with a letter of commendation from the Old West Side Association and receipt of the city's first Bicentennial Award for Restoration.